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Gunshot residue found at flat

A WHITE puffer jacket recovered from a Southampton house after a shooting contained the victim’s blood on the collar, jurors were told.

Police investigating the incident in which Suraj Singh Bhakar was wounded also seized grey cable used to restrain him, which also bore his DNA.

The city crown court has heard how Mr Bhakar suffered wounds in both legs after going to the premises in Vanguard Road, Townhill Park, on February 19. He was shot as he fled the scene.

Prosecutor Stephen Parish said a senior forensic scientist detected gunshot residue on a duster and gloves recovered from the flat of defendant Calvin Lawrence.

“The very heavy deposits provide very strong support they had been used to clean a gun,” he said.

Another scientist concluded the chances of the blood found on the jacket not being Mr Bhakar’s was one billion to one while it was the same probability for his DNA on the cable.

Mr Parish said from mobile telephone records it was clear Lawrence and co-accused Malachi Francis were in Southampton at the time of the shooting.

The prosecution said it was clear that in early February Lawrence was looking for a revolver. On February 19 Lawrence and Francis met at the former’s flat where the gun was cleaned before setting off for Southampton.

The court heard Lawrence was interviewed 19 times in four days but made no comment, except for denying in a written statement he had anything to do with the shooting.

Francis answered three questions in relation to car keys, a phone and £245 seized from him but otherwise declined to say anything further.

Lawrence, 26, and Francis, 27, both from London, deny wounding with intent and possessing a handgun to cause fear of violence.